The latest version of the MLB: The Show video game franchise introduced the ability to create and play as a female baseball player for the first time in its “Road to the Show” career mode.
While meant to expand inclusion and appeal to new customers, the change was met with criticism by some fans on social media who felt it was unrealistic and that the developers’ efforts would have been better spent fixing other issues.
“For the first time ever, you can create and play as a female ballplayer, with a unique Road to the Show story that evolves with the player over the course of your career,” The Show’s website read.
Why does #MLBTheShow24 have to be invaded with a WOKE gimmick. If anything, they could have developed a softball sim game. Looks like #SweetBabyInc got their nasty hands on sports too. Even though I have #XboxGamePass, I won't be downloading 24. https://t.co/ajAXFFcmGC
— TeknoBlast (@TeknoBlast) March 7, 2024
“This path will include all existing features of Road to the Show with the addition of a unique-to-women storyline following a lifelong friendship as it develops in professional baseball,” the site added.
Sports writers also questioned whether there was significant demand for the female player option or if it came at the expense of other possible improvements.
“Obviously, this is a very common career path for women, especially considering that the average fastball velocity around the league has now reached 94mph,” Outkick’s Ian Miller wrote.
Critics argued female players in the game would not realistically be able to throw 100 mph or hit 470 foot home runs like top male players.
“It’s unclear whether or not the game will depict female pitchers as being capable of throwing upwards of 100mph or say, hitting 470 foot home runs like Aaron Judge,” Miller wrote.
Miller described the game as “a confusing addition to a video game that’s come [into] criticism based on its graphical performance being stuck on the previous generation of consoles.”
“Was there a massive demand for spending valuable hours building this new feature into the game at the expense of other, more realistic, changes?” he wrote.
“MLB better hope that the developers didn’t lean too far into the realism by incorporating the league’s new see-through pants for its female characters.”
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